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APPENDIX 11: GERMANTOWN CULTURAL RESOURCES

Park Planning and Stewardship Division, Department of Parks, 2008

From Artifact to Attraction: A Strategic Plan for Planning, Housing, and Economic Development LGHQWLILHGLQWKHVHFWLRQWLWOHG´+LVWRULF5HVRXUFHVµ
Cultural Resources in Parks, provides a blueprint (PHED) Committee of the County Council. The Therefore, certain sites may be included in both
for stewarding cultural resources and making document is not a master plan, but rather a this chapter on Parks as well as in the Historic
them more visible to the public. The Cultural strategic plan. Resources material within this Plan.
Resources Stewardship Section of the Park
Planning and Stewardship Division uses the Plan Plan Objectives
as the foundation for its evolving work stewarding
upwards of 150 park-based cultural resources. The Germantown Employment Area Sector Plan
includes two types of information pertaining to
This section reflects new park planning emphasis cultural resources in parks: 1) a series of themes
on historical and cultural interpretation and relating to Germantown; and 2) archaeological and
outreach. Historic interpretation is an important historical resources on local, public parkland. The
element of this plan and will be emphasized in the objective of this Sector Plan is to highlight
parkland and through the public amenity process. opportunities to develop historic interpretation on
The interpretation of cultural and historic local parkland, whether that is
resources will support the vision of a sense of through future capital improvements
SODFHWKDWUHIOHFWV*HUPDQWRZQ·VXQLTXH by the Department of Parks or by
character. developer amenity. Cultural resources
on parkland are all those resources
Policy Guidance that help tell the story of the CRXQW\·V
history, whether they are designated
From Artifact to Attraction: A Strategic Plan for or not. Note that all sites that are
Cultural Resources in Parks arose from the County designated on the Master Plan for
&RXQFLO·VLQWHUHVWLQXQGHUVWDQGLQJ stewardship Historic Preservation or on the
objectives and recommendations concerning Park- Locational Atlas and Inventory of
owned historical and archaeological sites. The Historic Sites in the Germantown
plan was presented to the Historic Preservation vicinity, regardless of whether they are
Commission, the Planning Board, and the in public or private ownership, are

GERMANTOWN EMPLOYMENT AREA SECTOR PLAN: AN AMENDMENT TO THE GERMANTOWN MASTER PLAN TECHNICAL APPENDICES 69
PLANNING BOARD DRAFT ± FEBRUARY 2009
Cultural Resources Interpretive Themes The Germans Behind Germantown (1830s - o The creation of sculptures.
and Opportunities 1870s). Early German settlers built log o TKHXVHRI´JKRVWLQJµRIKLVWRULFLPDJes
structures and ran many mercantile on current building facades.
Five themes are identified for interpretation as operations. Their community became known o The fixed telescoping of historic views that
follows: DV´/RJ7RZQµ can be compared with current views, etc.
1. Native American Hunting and Gathering 5. A Settlement that Followed Transportation A historical marker trail along the Seneca
Grounds (10,000 B.C. ² 1607 A.D.). The area (Pre-1600 ² Present). Transportation changes Greenway Corridor that parallels Seneca
around Germantown served as a hunting and from water routes to foot trails, trails to dirt Creek.
gathering grounds for various prehistoric roads, roads to rail lines, and rail lines to An improved trailhead at the Waters House
peoples through the centuries. paved roads and highways resulted in the Special Park where it accesses the Upcounty
2. The Waters Family and Early Agrarian PRYHPHQWRI*HUPDQWRZQ·VFRUHDUHDIURP Corridor, or North Greenbelt.
Founders (18th Century ² Early 20th Century). one place to the next over the centuries. Possible installation of a signed or brochure-
Germantown contains several historic (Historical photo of Seneca Viaduct below.) guided cultural walk along the proposed
buildings and sites associated with this Crystal Rock Greenway, culminating at the
prominent family who helped shape the *HUPDQWRZQ·VKLVWRU\FDQEHFRQYH\HGWKURXJK Black HiOO5HJLRQDO3DUN9LVLWRUV·&HQWHU
agricultural tradition of Germantown. The sites cultural resources in parks in the following ways:
are part of the farming legacy of the county. Public Art Interpretation in one or more of the The opportunity exists for the Department of
(Photo of the Waters House-Pleasant Fields urban parks proposed near transit stops. Parks, private developers, and the Arts and
previous page.) Historic and cultural interpretation can be Humanities Council of Montgomery County to
3. Water and Steam Powered Mills (mid-18th implemented within urban open space create exciting and meaningful works of art that
Century - 1920s). Milling operations utilizing nodules via collaboration with local artists in LQWHUSUHW*HUPDQWRZQ·VKLVWRU\:LWKLQ this
natural water resources eventually were the following ways: context, opportunities also should be explored to
converted to steam. creatively make use of some of the large local
4. boulders from a dismantled Germantown railroad
culvert, since these boulders still exist in storage
at Black Hill Regional Park.

Each of the themes in this Plan could be


interpreted with signage complete with text and
illustrations.

GERMANTOWN EMPLOYMENT AREA SECTOR PLAN: AN AMENDMENT TO THE GERMANTOWN MASTER PLAN TECHNICAL APPENDICES 70
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The history of the Waters Family and other early Content of the Interpretive Themes of the Late Archaic Period, can be definitely placed
agrarian founders should be told when a new in Germantown.
trailhead can be constructed at the rear of the Boldface in text highlights extant resources which
Waters House property. (Photo, opposite page, of include the following: These were the Late Archaic broad-blade users
the trailhead location at the Waters House Barn at 1. Historic sites designated on the Master Plan who made the Savannah River and Susquehanna
for Historic Preservation (identifiable by
near left.) resource number with /, e.g. 19/13). Broadspear points found in the Kavanaugh III
2. Cultural resources found in county parkland, (18MO182) and Site 6 (18MO472) sites. The new
The Montgomery County Historical Society and the not designated on the MPHP. side-notched shapes have been attributed to the
3. Archeological resource (identified with MO
Heritage Tourism Alliance of Montgomery County number, e.g. 18MO461). introduction of the new atlatl, or spear thrower,
KDYHSDUWQHUHGZLWKWKH&RQIHUHQFHDQG9LVLWRUV· which allowed for more force and distance. The
Bureau of Montgomery County and the Arts and Theme 1: Native American Hunting and Late Archaic Period was the height of the seasonal
Humanities Council of Montgomery County to Gathering Grounds (10,000 B.C. to 1607 A.D.) hunting and foraging pattern that would have
study a proposed conversion of the bank barn at focused more particularly on the resources of local
the Waters House Special Park into a Heritage and For thousands of years the Germantown region creeks and streams. Broad-blade implements are
9LVLWRU·V&HQWHU7KLVEDUQOLNHDOOWKHEXLOGLQJVDW hosted a variety of prehistoric peoples. Although thought to be specialized harpoons for fishing
Waters House Special Park, is owned by the no Paleo-Indian sites (10,000 B.C. to 9000 B.C.) such as would have occurred in Seneca Creek.
Commission. If successful, the proposed project are particular to the area, a few locations along However, their users would also have gathered the
will create an additional destination point within the Potomac River and one in the Sandy Spring starchy seeds and tubers of the wetlands and
Waters House Special Park that will offer region have been associated with these Ice Age hunted the deer and other fauna that came there
information on local heritage, the Agricultural hunters who are identified by their fluted Clovis- to feed.
Reserve, park and recreational activities, hotels like points and mega-fauna hunting practices. The
and dining, heritage tours and functions, wineries, Sector Plan area would surely have been traversed Small mobile bands of between 50 and 100
local historical societies, etc. and known to these nomads. people would most likely have visited the Sector
Plan area in the summer and fall when hunting
After 9000 B.C., a warming and drying trend and gathering would have been at its best. Such
brought on the beginning of more modern Indians would have located their sites to exploit
environmental changes associated with the nut harvests, turkeys, and various vegetable foods,
Holocene era. A different prehistoric hunting and in addition to deer. Archaeologists have never
gathering tradition, called the Archaic Period, discovered what type of structures these Archaic
arose in the temperate climate and more modern peoples made, but they were probably similar to
flora and fauna which now covered the region. the small round huts of later periods, usually
These Indians, too, were nomadic and, by the end covered with skins or woven reeds.

GERMANTOWN EMPLOYMENT AREA SECTOR PLAN: AN AMENDMENT TO THE GERMANTOWN MASTER PLAN TECHNICAL APPENDICES 71
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Late Archaic semi-permanent macro-band camps Woodland villages have been discovered only in stable agrarian culture began much earlier.
(100+ people) would have been located in areas the Potomac Valley region of Montgomery County Europeans first took out land patents in the late
of higher resource potential, mostly along the Fall and its associated islands. However, earlier 17th century. The earliest patents for the
Line, the geological break between the Coastal Indians would have also made use of the Germantown area were mostly in the mid-18th
3ODLQ 3ULQFH*HRUJH·V&RXQW\ DQG0RQWJRPHU\ Germantown area solely to hunt and gather century. What had been the "old Sinequa"
&RXQW\·V3LHGPRQWXSODQGV7KHLUVHDVRQDOURXQG seasonal flora. Because such villages were (Seneca) Indian path now led settlers west along
would have taken them from such winter camps to abandoned about 100 years before European what they called the "Great Road" (Route 355).
springtime harvests in southern Maryland and contact, archaeologists have no knowledge of any They used the old Indian trail to roll their
back up into the western foothills again for the of their tribal affiliations, linguistic stocks, or even hogsheads (large barrels) of tobacco from their
summer and fall. migration destinations. farms to the port of Georgetown.

The only evidence of Woodland or Agricultural When John Smith sailed up the Potomac in 1609, The British settlers established the farming
Indians (1000 B.C. to 1607 A.D.) in the greater the Germantown area, along with the rest of practices used in southern Maryland; a soil-
Germantown area comes from known Indian Montgomery County, had become a sort of depleting, slave-oriented tobacco culture. Most
paths. Modern Route 355, was part of the old prehistoric no-PDQ·V-land, buffering the Montgomery County tobacco farms averaged only
´6LQHTXDµ,QGLDQWUDLOWKDWHYHQWXDOO\ZRXQGLWV Algonquians of southern Maryland against the about three or four enslaved people, but some
way to Point-of-Rocks. Seneca Creek was also northern Iroquois (Seneca) and Susquehannocks were larger. In the 1790s, upon their marriages,
named for the northern Seneca Indians who used and western Siouan and Shawnee tribes. The the three Waters brothers, Zachariah, William, Jr.,
that stream valley as a way south. Susquehannocks and the Seneca were especially and Basil, all were given land in what is now
territorial about their rights to hunt in the region. Germantown by their father, William, Sr. A stone
It was the Susquehannocks who created the path boundary marker with the initials W & M (for the
WKDWVKRZVXSRQDPDSDVWKH´7HKRJJHH William and Mary Waters tract, photo, left) is
7UDLOµDUXJJHGWKRURXJKIDUHZHQRZNQRZDV located in the Black Hill Regional Park west of
River Road. By this time, the Indians of Germantown. The combined Waters property
Germantown and Montgomery County had long covered all of present northeast Germantown,
disappeared into prehistory. comprising about 1,500 acres, and included a
tobacco plantation worked by 22 slaves. The
Theme 2: The Waters Family and Early fourth Waters brother, Ignatius, inherited their
Agrarian Founders (18th-20th Centuries) faWKHU·VHVWDWHLQ%URRNHYLOOH7KHVWRQH
foundations of the William Waters, Jr. House
Although Montgomery County was formed out of (19/3) are all that remain of a substantial brick
Frederick County in 1776, the establishment of a residence built in the late 1700s.

GERMANTOWN EMPLOYMENT AREA SECTOR PLAN: AN AMENDMENT TO THE GERMANTOWN MASTER PLAN TECHNICAL APPENDICES 72
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Around 1810, Zachariah Waters also established a Theme 3: Water and Steam Powered Mills needs with grain and lumber processing, but also
mill along Little Seneca Creek with three milling (mid-18th century through 1920s) provided important social and political functions
operations producing flour, lumber, and flaxseed as community gathering and voting places. The
oil. The mill ceased operation in c. 1895. Today From 1820 to 1900, a booming economy emerged PLOOV·QDPHVSD\WULEXWHWRWKHHDUO\UHVLGHQWVZKR
the Waters Mill ruins are still visible, and they are in the Germantown area. This new prosperity was lived near Germantown: Benson, Crowe, Clopper,
interpreted by an historic marker in Black Hill made possible by the development of agricultural Davis, Watkins, Waters, Magruder, and Hoyle.
Regional Park. diversification and new fertilizers, as well as the
advent of the railroad in the area by the 1870s. Mill ruins known as the Clopper Mill (19/21) are
While the Zachariah and William, Jr. Waters homes The change from a folk-oriented tobacco culture to located in Seneca Creek State Park. A mill was
no longer stand, the Basil Waters House, dating a more nationally-focused industrial economy built on this site in the 1770s by Nicholas Sibert.
from the late 18th century, does. Basil Waters brought Montgomery County into the larger About 1795, Zacchariah MacCubbin rebuilt the
developed his property into a large tobacco American pattern of development. mill in stone. Francis C. Clopper, a prosperous
plantation known as Pleasant Fields (19/1, owner of woolen factory and mills, expanded the
18MO408). In the mid-1800s %DVLO·VQHSKHZ, Dr. Along the waterways of Great Seneca Creek and PLOOZLWKEULFN7KHPDQVLRQKRXVHIRU&ORSSHU·V
William A. Waters, lived in the house and had his Little Seneca Creek, grist and saw mills had estate, called Woodlands, was located near the
GRFWRU·VRIILFHWKHUH7KHKRXVHJDLQHGLWVSUHVHQW appeared by the mid-18th century. The SDUN·VYLVLWRUFHQWHU
Italianate appearance under ownership of Charles establishment of Waters Mill (18MO461) in Black
Waters, son of William. Charles built or expanded Hill Regional Park, and other
the frame section and compatibly redesigned the milling operations along
existing house. The new large central hall was Seneca Creek in the
outfitted with an elegant curved staircase. Charles Germantown area, reflect the
Waters bred racehorses on the property, one of growth of water-powered
which set the East Coast trotting record in 1898. manufacturing technology in
The property, which remained in the Waters family the Piedmont region, where
until 1932, includes a bank barn and double streams run swiftly. Early
corncrib. A small Waters family burial plot is maps of the area identify mills
QHDUE\RQ+DZN·V1HVW/DQH7KHrestored house DV´* 6PLOOVµIRUWKHZDWHU-
and barn are owned by the M-NCPPC, open for powered grist and sawing
community events, and operated in part by the activities located along these
Montgomery County Historical Society. streams. These local
businesses not only served
WKHFRPPXQLW\·VFRPPHUFLDO

GERMANTOWN EMPLOYMENT AREA SECTOR PLAN: AN AMENDMENT TO THE GERMANTOWN MASTER PLAN TECHNICAL APPENDICES 73
PLANNING BOARD DRAFT ± FEBRUARY 2009
It is difficult to determine exact construction dates EXLOGLQJDVPDOOGDPRU´PLOOSRQGµXSVWUHDPIURP A list of some of the water-powered mills located
of many of the early mills. Some burned or the mill. Water was diverted from the pond through on public parkland near the Germantown
deteriorated, and their foundation stones were DGLWFKFDOOHGD´PLOOUDFHµRU´KHDGUDFHµ7KHPLOO Employment Area Sector Plan is located at the end
reused to build new mills on the same site. Early race contained a grate to filter debris before of this document. Of the mill ruins cited, one of
documents record ownership transfers that often reaching the water wheel. Upon turning the large the most intact ruins, and an example of a mill
meant a change in the name of the mill and the ZKHHOWKHZDWHUWKHQIORZHGWKURXJKWKH´WDLO constructed using the local black rock, is Black
road where it was located. UDFHµDQGZDVGLYHrted back to the main stream. Rock Mill (24/6), now part of Seneca Creek State
The Waters Mill ruin in Black Hill Regional Park Park (photo previous page).
Early water mills were located along a steady contains remnants of these races.
stream of water and were constructed using local Water power fueled the mills until the advent of
stone and timber. Mill structures ranged in size The large water wheel turned a shaft that powered steam power in the 1850s. Later milling
from two- to three-story masonry or clapboard a series of cogged wheels inside the mill structure, operations ventured away from the streams and
structures, and some even utilized two water transferring power by moving from large to small towards steam power, locating near the railroad
wheels. Early water-powered mills were located gears and ultimately turning the mill stone for line for transportation purposes. In 1888, the
along steady, fast-moving streams and were grinding. Two stones were used for grinding. The Bowman Brothers' Liberty Mill was built next to the
constructed using local stone and timber. top stone, called the runner, rotated over the present-day Germantown depot, along the
stationary bottom runner, or bed stone. Both Metropolitan Branch Railway line of the Baltimore
Mills from the 18th and early 19th century were stones were cut with furrows to grind and channel & Ohio (B&O) Railroad. The wooden flour mill
usually powered by undershot wheels, where the the gUDLQWRWKHVWRQH·VHGJH*UDLQZDVSRXUHG burned in 1914 but was rebuilt and modernized in
force of the water against the lower blades turned into the center of the top stone and moved out 1916 with six huge silos. In 1918 Augustus Selby
the wheel. As the population and agricultural through the furrows where the ground flour or and his four partners bought the mill and operated
production increased, the need for reliable water meal was collected at the edges. it until 1963. A grain elevator and grain dryer were
power for milling and milling operations grew. part of the operation in the 1920s and 30s, but
Experiments using different types of wheel designs Early grist mills used locally-quarried stones for burned in 1972 after the mill had closed. Still
were used, with the overshot wheel being the most grinding rye, buckwheat, and cornmeal producing standing, and located in the Germantown Historic
popular. In this design, the water struck the upper DFRDUVHO\JURXQGIORXURU´FRXQWU\FXVWRPµIORXU District (19/13), is a grain scale housed in a small
blades on top of the wheel and moved it down by Stones were also imported from France and metal shed on Mateny Hill Road, southwest of
the force of gravity. Germany and produced more finely ground flour. Blunt Avenue. The Liberty Mill was at one time the
´&XOOLQµVWRQHVZHUHDEOXH-black lava stone and second largest mill in the state.
At least an eight foot drop in elevation was ´)UHQFKEXUUVµZHUHIUHVKZDWHUTXDUW]VWRQHV
necessary for locating a mill along a waterway. In quarried in Northern France.
addition, an ample supply of water was created by

GERMANTOWN EMPLOYMENT AREA SECTOR PLAN: AN AMENDMENT TO THE GERMANTOWN MASTER PLAN TECHNICAL APPENDICES 74
PLANNING BOARD DRAFT ± FEBRUARY 2009
Theme 4: The Germans Behind Germantown house has been relocated to Seneca Creek State During the late 19th century, with the
(1830s ² 1870s) Park, southeast of Germantown. establishment of the railroad, farmers were able to
ship their produce, grain, and milk to Washington,
The first German settlers in the area came from Theme 5: A Settlement that Followed and also receive fertilizers to enrich the soil for
old Frederick County, and they established small Transportation (pre-1600s ² Present) larger yields. The railroad continued to provide a
farms growing grains and cereals. In the 1830s strong economic link for Germantown, especially
and 1840s, Pennsylvania Germans, as well as The settlements at Germantown have undergone to the expanding metropolitan regions of Baltimore
immigrants from Germany and Slavic countries, five significant changes, from 1) Native American and Washington.
settled at the crossroads of Germantown (now temporary settlements along the waterways in the
called Liberty Mill Road) and Clopper (Route 117) pre-1600 period to 2) a small Germanic In 1878, the first Germantown railroad depot was
Roads. Some of the first settlers were the families crossroads settlement at Germantown and constructed. In 1891, it was replaced with a larger
of Domenicus Stang, a blacksmith; Franz Clopper Roads in the 1830s, to 3) a vital railroad frame building. This depot burned in 1978 and
Grusendorf, a stonemason; and Asher Rosenmeier VWRSLQWKHVDQGVWR D´&RUULGRU&LW\µ was reconstructed following the same Victorian-
DQG&KDUOHV$GOHUZKRUDQWKHFRPPXQLW\·VVWRUH. aligned with Frederick Road (Route 355) by the era architectural details. Another railroad
20th century, to 5) part of the technology corridor transportation component is the massive
Other early families included the Metzes and the in the 1970s, defined primarily by Interstate-270. stonework of the Waring Viaduct (19/10) and its
Richters. Many immigrants were millers and larger twin over the Little Monocacy River (near
farmers who tilled small plots of corn and tobacco. The initial movement of people and
During this period, when farmers from the industry was away from the waters
surrounding area came into town and heard more and towards the roads. After the
German than English, the area became known as Germans settled along east-west-
´*HUPDQWRZQµ7KHQDPH*HUPDQWRZQILUVW running Clopper Road, the
occurred in print in the mid-19th century, on a land settlement kept shifting
deed. The settlement was also sometimes called northwards: first with the coming
´ORJWRZQµEHFDXVHWKH*HUPDQVEURXJKWORJ of the B & O Railroad, next to
construction to the area. Today only one of the better surface transportation with
known German-built dwellings associated with the the paving of Frederick Road and
original cluster of homes and shops from this then, with the construction of
particular time of settlement survives. The sole Interstate 270. Present-day Liberty
remaining structure is the Grusendorf Log House Mill and Walter Johnson Roads
(19/19, photo right), which originally stood on the were the original Germantown
east side of Clopper Road, near Route 118. The Road.

GERMANTOWN EMPLOYMENT AREA SECTOR PLAN: AN AMENDMENT TO THE GERMANTOWN MASTER PLAN TECHNICAL APPENDICES 75
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Dickerson, MD). The 350 foot-long, three-arch List of Park-Based Cultural Resources Both the Kavanaugh III and Site 6 sites uncovered
viaduct of roughly dressed granite supports the projectile points which dated to the Late Archaic
tracks that are about 70 feet above the Great Known Prehistoric Archaeological Sites Period, circa 3000 to 1000 B.C. The Kavanaugh III
Seneca Creek. A granite abutment and piers also There are seven prehistoric archaeological sites site contained the base fragment of a
remain from the Little Seneca Creek Viaduct within and adjacent to the Germantown Sector Susquehanna Broadspear-like point. Named for
(18/44), a single-track railroad bridge. Plan area. All of them consist of lithic scatter; i.e., the Susquehanna site where it was first identified,
they contain flakes and chips that were knocked it is triangular shaped, broad²based and side-
As the automobile became the preferred method off to manufacture tools and projectile points. notched, dating from 1750 B. C. to 700 B. C. The
of transportation in the area, accommodations Except for the Kavanaugh III (18MO182) and Site Site 6 point was a quartz Savannah River-like
arose for motorists along Frederick Road. The 6 (18MO472) sites, no diagnostic artifacts were projectile. Again, named after its original
Cider Barrel (19/33) was constructed in 1926 by discovered which would relate the other Indian Savannah River location, this point was triangular-
Andrew Baker to sell cider and apples from his sites to definite time periods. based and side-notched with a broad triangular
orchard. Located east of Germantown, this once- stem. Such spear points date from 3000 B.C. to
popular road-side stand still stands today. 1000 B.C.
The mid-20th century saw the growth of the area
continue with the location of the main
headquarters for the Atomic Energy Commission
(now U.S. Department of Energy) in Germantown.
TABLE 1: Known Prehistoric Archeological Sites
The completion of the I-´7HFKQRORJ\&RUULGRUµ
Site Number Site Name Site type Period
during the 1970s provided for further commercial,
18MO182 Kavanaugh III Archaic Lithic Scatter Prehistoric
business, and educational development. During
18MO183 Kavanaugh IV Lithic Scatter Prehistoric
this time period, a satellite campus for
18MO184 Kavanaugh V Lithic Scatter Prehistoric
Montgomery Community College started in
Germantown. Today, the area continues to 18MO185 Kavanaugh VI Lithic Scatter Prehistoric
develop along this transportation corridor with 18MO186 Kavanaugh VII Lithic Scatter Prehistoric
three major intersections providing access to the 18MO472 Site 6 Archaic Lithic Scatter Prehistoric
surrounding community. 18MO594 Wisteria Lithic Scatter Prehistoric

GERMANTOWN EMPLOYMENT AREA SECTOR PLAN: AN AMENDMENT TO THE GERMANTOWN MASTER PLAN TECHNICAL APPENDICES 76
PLANNING BOARD DRAFT ± FEBRUARY 2009
Known Historical Archaeological Sites Table 2: Known Historical Archaeological Sites
There are nine historical archaeological sites near
Site Number Site Name Site type Period
the Germantown Employment Area Sector Plan.
18MO175 Rabbit Farm 19th century
Seven of these are farmsteads; one is a masonry
18MO181 Kavanaugh II Frame Structure Historic
structure, and the other is a mill complex. They
18MO187 Kavanaugh VIII Masonry Structure 19th century
span a time from the late 18th to the early/middle
18MO205 Parcel EC-1 Stone House Farmstead 19th/20th century
20th century.
18MO361 355-1 Farm ----------------
18MO362 Middlebrook Farm 18th-20th century
Additional Cultural Resources in Parks
18MO363 Calico Crab House Farm 19th century
18MO408 Pleasant Field Farmstead 18th century
19/1 Pleasant Fields/Basil Waters House
(c 1790s-early 1800s; 1890s) 18MO461 Waters Mill & House Mill 18th-20th century
21200 Waters Road, Waters House Special Park Today, the restored house is open to the public In c. 1810, Zachariah Waters also established a
Master Plan for Historic Preservation and contains offices for non-profit groups and mill along Little Seneca Creek with three milling
provides public meeting space. Now called the operations³flour grinding, flax-seed oil pressing,
The Waters family inhabited Pleasant Fields for Waters House Special Park, the property includes and lumber cutting. The mills ceased operation c.
more than a century. Basil Waters established the a large bank barn, a corncrib, and carriage house 1895. An 1865 Martenet and Bond map, labels
large tobacco plantation about 1790. The brick and is adjacent to the North
sections of the house (center and left) are the Germantown Greenway Stream
earliest, dating from the late 1700s or early Valley Park. The family burial
1800s. During the mid-WKFHQWXU\%DVLO·V JURXQGRIDOOWKUHHEURWKHUV·
nephew, Dr. William Waters, owned the property families is preserved near the
DQGORFDWHGKLVGRFWRU·VRIILFHLQDEDFNURRPRQ Pleasant Fields property on
the first floor. Dr. Waters served as the general Hawks Nest Lane.
practitioner for the community and also continued
ZKHDWDQGFRUQRQWKHIDUP,Q'U:DWHUV· Waters Mill Ruins, Chimney
son, Charles, inherited the house and farm. Ruins, and Boundary
Charles redesigned and expanded the house to its Marker
current Italianate-style appearance. The property Black Hill Regional Park
was used for breeding racehorses and remained in Not Designated
the family until 1932.

GERMANTOWN EMPLOYMENT AREA SECTOR PLAN: AN AMENDMENT TO THE GERMANTOWN MASTER PLAN TECHNICAL APPENDICES 77
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WKHPLOOVLWHDV´0UV:DWHUV0LOOµIRU(OHDQRU 19/7 Watkins Mill Ruins connected to the barn. In 2001-2002, the
(Ellen) Waters, ZKRZDV=DFKDULDK·VGDXJKWHU-in- Great Seneca Stream Valley Park Department of Parks restored the exterior of the
law. Ellen operated the mills after her husband, Not Designated barn and added missing roofs to the silos. The
7LOJKPDQ:DWHUVGLHGLQ7KH:DWHUV·JULVW barn is open to the public as the King Farm Dairy
and saw-mill ruins are visible from the Black Hill The Watkins Mill site is located along the Great Mooseum (photo below).
trail and interpreted by a historic marker in Black Seneca Creek at Watkins Mill Road. Originally built
Hill Regional Park. Foundations from the late by Aden Grey, a grist mill has been at this site Hoyles Mill Ruins
18th-FHQWXU\PLOOHU·VKRXVHDUHLQWKHYLFLQLW\7KH since 1783. From 1791 to 1846, the Dorsey Hoyles Mill Conservation Park
site provides a good example of the head race and family owned the property and ran a grist and saw Master Plan for Historic Preservation
tail race used to direct water to and from the milling operation. From 1859 to 1877, it was
milling operation. Also located along the trail is a owned and operated by Susan Ann and Remus The Hoyles Mill site is located along Hoyles Mill
UHPDLQLQJ´: 0µVWRQHERXndary marker Snyder. At that time, the mill road was also called Road in the Hoyles Mill Conservation Park. This
indicating the William and Mary Waters land tract. ´6Q\GHU·V0LOO5RDGµ/HYL:DWNLQVSXUFKDVHGWKH 19th century mill was operated by the Hoyle family
1HDUWKHSDUN·VSLFQLFDUHDDQGSOD\JURXQGDUH mill at auction and operated the grist mill. By the on part of their farm land along Little Seneca
two stone chimneys and a foundation from a 1880s, the mill produced 600 barrels of wheat Creek. The 1850 Census of Manufacturers lists it
former tenant house owned by the Waters family. flour, 10,000 pounds of buckwheat flour, and as a grist and a saw mill. It operated until 1914
185,000 pounds of cornmeal a year. The mill when the Hoyles moved their milling operation to
14/54 Davis Mill Ruins burned in 1908. Part of the mill foundation Boyds to be closer to the railroad. The mill ruins
Great Seneca Stream Valley Park remains along the creek bank, and portions of the still contain remains of the water-powered turbine
Not Designated mill race are visible. A radio tower is located near that replaced the mill wheel in the second half of
WKHIRUPHUPLOOSRQG7KHPLOOHU·VKRXVHEXUQHGLQ the 19th century.
The Davis Mill, located along Davis Mill Road near 1920. An interpretive historical marker is located
Great Seneca Creek, was purchased by John at the mill site.
Samuel Davis in the 1880s. A mill was at this site
as early as 1783. During the time Davis operated King Farm Dairy Mooseum
the grist mill, it was a three-story, clapboard, frame South Germantown Regional Park
EXLOGLQJZLWKDVWRQHIRXQGDWLRQ'DYLV· Not Designated
homestead was nearby and overlooked the mill.
The mill burned in the 1940s. An interpretive The c. 1930s James and Macie King Dairy barn is
historical marker is located at the mill site. part of the 650 acre South Germantown Regional
Park. The large concrete block barn features a
gambrel roof. Two original concrete silos are

GERMANTOWN EMPLOYMENT AREA SECTOR PLAN: AN AMENDMENT TO THE GERMANTOWN MASTER PLAN TECHNICAL APPENDICES 78
PLANNING BOARD DRAFT ± FEBRUARY 2009
18/44 Little Seneca Creek Viaduct, B&O arranged into four towers and one stand-alone closed to the public.
Metropolitan Branch Railroad Bed bent.
Black Hill Regional Park and WSSC Property 18/8 Boyd-Maughlin House
Master Plan for Historic Preservation In 1980, a dam was constructed to create the 15215 Darnestown Road
Little Seneca Lake reservoir. Construction (Black Hill Regional Park)
This resource consists of the remains of the 1896 occurred in the center of the viaduct site; the Master Plan for Historic Preservation
viaduct that traversed Little Seneca Creek and an western section of the viaduct and its stone piers
abandoned c. 1865 railroad bed located were either removed or buried. One of the earliest structures in the Boyds Historic
approximately midway between Boyds and District, is the David Maughlin House also known
Germantown. These structures were once part of The rest of the viaduct remains are located along as the Boyd-Maughlin house that dates from
the c. 1860s Metropolitan Branch of the B&O the former eastern slope of Little Seneca Creek. It 1866. The two-story, frame, clapboard house is a
Railroad, a 43-mile link between Washington, D.C. consists of one large granite-end abutment and good example of the rural Gothic Revival
and the Main Line of the B&O at Point of Rocks, four stone piers. The abutment is approximately influenced vernacular architecture. Features
MD. Upon its completion in 1873, an economic 31 feet wide and 12 feet long. The structure include a cross-gabled roof, bracketed porch
boom began for the communities located near its stands some 12 feet above grade at its exposed posts, and a central front gable with a small
route; consequently, the former crossroads end. Two dates are chiseled in the structure, arched window. The property is now part of the
community of Germantown moved its commercial ´µDQG´µ (photo below), and, Black Hill Regional Park and rented as a
GHYHORSPHQWWRWKHQRUWKHDVWFUHDWLQJ´1HZ probably represent the periods of construction. At residence.
*HUPDQWRZQµDORQJWKLVUDLOURDG the base of the stone abutment stand four stone
piers. The 1896 viaduct replaced an early
The remaining masonry structures once supported 1870s wooden trestle. Visible remains from this
a single-tracked metal railroad bridge in operation earlier bridge are the stone retaining walls that
until 1928. The bridge was abandoned when the the B&O Railroad used as rip-rap for the base of
railroad was double-tracked, straightened, and the fill on the east bank of the creek. The viaduct
rerouted farther south. The bridge was built on a structures are located on WSSC property.
four-degree curve with a total span of about 480
feet and approximately 105 feet above water at its The remaining B&O Metropolitan Branch Railroad
midpoint. The bridge was designed by John E. Bed is a significant landscape feature that is cut
Greiner (1859-1942), an engineer with the B&O into the hillside and leads from Wisteria Drive to
Railroad, using a relatively standard bridge design the Little Seneca dam. It is now part of Black Hill
with the track supported by deck-type girder spans Regional Park and is currently being used as an
which were, in turn, supported by nine bents, access road to service the dam. The road is

GERMANTOWN EMPLOYMENT AREA SECTOR PLAN: AN AMENDMENT TO THE GERMANTOWN MASTER PLAN TECHNICAL APPENDICES 79
PLANNING BOARD DRAFT ± FEBRUARY 2009
Black Hill Gold Mine
Black Hill Regional Park
Not Designated

Remnants of mining pits from the Black Hill Gold


Mine are located in the Black Hill Regional Park.
Starting around 1850, miners used picks and
shovels in open-pit extraction in attempts to find
gold. However, results were disappointing since
ore containing gold was rarely found. In 1947,
George A. Chadwick purchased the property and
later converted the mine to a bomb shelter. An
interpretive historical marker is located at this site.

GERMANTOWN EMPLOYMENT AREA SECTOR PLAN: AN AMENDMENT TO THE GERMANTOWN MASTER PLAN TECHNICAL APPENDICES 80
PLANNING BOARD DRAFT ± FEBRUARY 2009
Photos: Black Rock Mill

GERMANTOWN EMPLOYMENT AREA SECTOR PLAN: AN AMENDMENT TO THE GERMANTOWN MASTER PLAN TECHNICAL APPENDICES 81
PLANNING BOARD DRAFT ± FEBRUARY 2009
Map 1: Historic Resources

GERMANTOWN EMPLOYMENT AREA SECTOR PLAN: AN AMENDMENT TO THE GERMANTOWN MASTER PLAN TECHNICAL APPENDICES 82
PLANNING BOARD DRAFT ± FEBRUARY 2009

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